Stare
by UselessReptile
Summary: It's a common feeling you get, especially in this line of 'business'. The hair on your neck stands on end, a chill crawls up your spine and you're constantly looking over your shoulder. ...Because you know that someone, somewhere...is -watching- you
1. Halloween

**Author's Note: So this is my Halloween horror story. ...that's going to lapse into Thanksgiving and possibly/probably Christmas because I waited until Halloween to start it.**** I fail.**** Anyway, this idea came to me on ...I think Friday. And I've decided to run with it and see what happens to it. This is also the first thing I'm posting on here that's more than a one-shot! xD ...joy.**

...-...

"So. Let me get this straight. You guys …dress up…and go from house to house…and ask for candy?"

"Yeeeep."

"…I thought you _weren't_ supposed to take candy from strangers."

"No, Garth, that's just creepy men in white, windowless vans."

It was a struggle to keep his mouth from twitching into a smirk as the Atlantean slowly closed the fridge door to look back at him. But, Roy managed to keep his face entirely straight and serious. Garth blinked, his expression furrowing.

"…_just_ creepy men in white, windowless vans?"

"Yeah. And I'm not kidding. Take candy from those bitches and you're dead. Everyone else, though, is perfectly safe."

Garth continued to eye him for a few more seconds before he scowled a little and shook his head, carrying the remains of some pasta to the microwave. "You're a jerk."

"No shit?"

"Tch."

He finally let the smirk slide onto his face as he pushed off the counter with a grunt. "Anyway, yeah. That's Halloween for you. Whoop-ty frickin-do."

"How come you guys didn't tell me about it last year?" Garth asked.

"Weren't you gone most've last fall 'cause've something going down in Atlantis?"

Garth paused midway through closing the microwave door as he thought it over, nodded and shut it. "Yeah, actually, I think that was during last fall. …and you were out of commis-…"

His voice trailed off as Roy paused and turned half way to glance over his shoulder at him. The Atlantean opened his mouth, closed it, and quickly started punching in numbers on the machine. He resorted to a subject change.

"Um, so, dressing up…Karen's taken the twins out as …what were they?"

"Thing One and Thing Two. …frickin perfect for them. Dr. Suess in Spanish; just when I thought the rhyming couldn't get anymore frickin ridiculous."

Garth snorted a soft chuckle. The archer rolled his shoulders and strode out of the kitchen area into the command center. He flopped onto the couch and propped his feet on the coffee table, drumming his fingers along the rim of the cushion. From the Titans East Tower's windows, the only thing he could really stare at was the ocean. Or the faint reflection of himself on the glass.

Lately he hadn't been entirely fond of that.

Garth exited the kitchen a few minutes later carrying a bowl of the steaming pasta with him. Roy didn't seem notice him until he had sat down to his right. Garth studied his face for a moment, frowning a little upon noticing how distant his fixed gaze was.

"…you want to be home right now, don't you?" He asked, almost carefully, forking at the noodles. Roy hardly side glanced him and snorted.

"Home? Why the hell would I want to be home? Ollie would put me on handing-candy-out duty. I hate that frickin job."

Garth shifted the bowl in his hands a little as he spun a few noodles around his fork, looking back up at the other teen afterwards. "…'cause, you know. It's your first holiday or something with Lian and, like you said, parents take their kids Trick-Or-Treating. …just…figured you might want to seize it to …get to know her a little better."

Roy slowly turned his head, his gaze hardening as he locked his eyes onto Garth's. The Atlantean shrunk a little and dropped his own gaze back to the bowl of noodles. "…sorry."

"_Look_. I'd already told Karen that I'd stick around with you and keep an eye on shit while she took care of the damn twins, 'cause we all know how _God awful_ you are with technology. …Besides. Dinah practically nabbed the kid and dragged her off to the costume shop this morning. So screw it. They can have their 'girl bonding time'."

Garth shrugged, forking up the string of noodles and swallowing them down. "…if you say so."

The red head snorted and looked back to the windows, his eyes falling on his reflection for a moment before he glared away from it and scanned the horizon instead. His eyes jumped to the left as some movement in the window caught the edge of his gaze. A bird slowly glided by the windows from the cliff side behind the tower…and he strangely felt rather relaxed all of the sudden. And…almost guilty. He snuck a side-glance at Garth, who had also turned his attention to the ocean view and fallen quiet, not seeming to notice the gesture.

…frickin Garth.

Roy scowled and drew his legs up enough so he could swipe the remote off the coffee table.

"You like horror, right?"

"No."

"Awesome. I think _The Ring_'s on right now. And _Ju-on_ right after that. Might wanna get yourself a blanket to hide behind 'cause you sure as hell ain't usin' me."

"…ngh."


	2. Too Much Coffee 'n Candy

It was kind of surreal how the screaming and shouting and twisted gurgling noises coming from the TV weren't keeping his attention near as much as the coffee he was drinking. What was this? His third cup? Fourth? Hell, he couldn't remember between stalking back and forth from the kitchen to munch on some of the left over candy from the Halloween party back at the main Tower. Dinah had warned him about drinking a ton of coffee with candy already on the stomach. Something about the last time she did it and how she was pretty sure Ollie clocked her going ninety miles per hour on a skateboard babbling about being chased by four turtles and a giant rat or…somethin'. Or maybe she'd just gotten a frickin bad stomach ache and he hadn't been listening again.

Roy was only snapped out of his thoughts when Garth suddenly let out a small squeak and slapped his hands over his eyes. He blinked at the Atlantean, for a moment forgetting that the television had even been on to begin with. Once he remembered that they were in the middle of a horror movie marathon, he grinned and laughed shortly.

"God, for a second there I thought you were Wally. Impressive pitch, that sounded just like him."

Garth scowled a little and lowered his hands just enough to look at him. "I _told_ you that I didn't like horror."

"And I told _you_ that no one's hold'n ya hostage in here!" Roy pointed out, swishing the last of the coffee in the mug. "If it's freak'n ya out THAT much, you can go to bed or leave or somethin'!"

"Um. No, I can't! You've got this thing blasting! -And knowing you, you'll only turn it up louder if I leave the room! Or worse, connect it to the Tower speakers so then I can hear that…disgusting gurgling noise from anywhere in the tower!"

Roy smirked and let out a short chuckle. "…damnit, Garth, you know me too well. Suck all the fun outta my Halloween. …I oughta beat you for it."

"You're punishing me enough by watching this horror marathon…_while_ you drink all that coffee and eat all that candy." He pointed at the cup, his eyes narrowing a little. "Seriously, that can't be good for you."

"Oh-ho, speaking of which—" Roy pressed the mug's rim to his lips and swung his head back, swallowing the gulp of coffee in an instant and letting out an exaggerated 'ahh!' as he lowered it again. "Well. Wouldja lookit that? I'm out've coffee. Time for a refill."

Garth slowly shook his head as Roy pushed off the couch, flinching briefly as a low, clicking and gurgling started seeping from the TV speakers again. "…at least make some popcorn while you're in there."

"Yeah, yeah, quit yer whine'n."

Roy strode around the couch and straight ahead towards the kitchen. He whistled loudly, bouncing the mug back and forth between his hands and glanced at the note Karen had left sitting on the counter for them. It had your typical night routines, like locking down the tower, double checking the scanner and other forms of shit that Karen normally did, he knew how to do but was too lazy to do and Garth sort of knew how to do. Which meant he'd be stuck doing it—wait.

He paused, standing there a moment and squinting before taking a few steps backwards and looking down at the note.

Karen's instructions were listed in their usual, obnoxiously orderly fashion. An underlined title at the top and then a thoughtfully numbered list of instructions and notes in the order they were supposed to be performed in. But on the bottom of the paper, scribbled messily and at an odd angle, were three words.

"_Where were you?"_

Roy's brows etched together as he stared at the sentence. "…hey, Garth. Did you see this list Karen left us?"

"Myeah? What about it?"

"…did you write on it?"

Garth looked up from grabbing the remote, turning the volume down on the movie as he shook his head. "No. Why?"

"…nothing." Roy snorted, scowling as he turned away from the counter and continued toward to the microwave. "Karen's probably just screwing with us since she got stuck with the twins and their 'keep it G' Halloween fun. Tch. Gar pulls better pranks."

The Atlantean grunted, leaning back as he looked into the kitchen. "Speaking of which, what do you think Vic's gonna do when he finds out Gar's the one who left all that chocolate in the back of the T-car?"

Roy smirked broadly at Garth's reflection in the microwave door before opening it and reaching into the cabinet above it, tugging the box of popcorn out and plucking a bag from it. The image of the cyborg's near-popping veins as he burst into the tower's command center earlier that day was still stuck in his head. But even better was the remaining memory of Gar's expression as he slowly shrunk himself into a mouse and hid under the sofa. Part of him wished they'd stayed longer to see if the little grass stain had been caught.

"Heh. I know what I'd do: beat the shit outta him," he mused, tossing a bag into the microwave and swinging the door shut. "But Vic's a bi—"

The words cut short in his throat and his body went rigid as the reflective microwave door clicked into place. Just feet behind him, right beside the counter and note stood a young woman. She wore a wet-looking pair of torn jeans and a discolored blue top. Her messy, shoulder-length blond hair coiled around her head and face in an almost tumble-weed like state, and the left side of her skull was crimson and dripping with blood. Through her hair she stared at him with eyes wide with rage.

Roy spun around to face her and gasped shortly when he found himself facing nothing. Just an empty path from the command center couch to his position at the buzzing microwave. Garth stiffened, his eyes widening and expression becoming confused. "—What? …What was that about?"

The archer glanced rapidly around the kitchen. Nothing looked disturbed, moved or shifted. He looked back to Garth. "…you didn't see anything just now?"

"Uh. …No."

Roy turned his head sharply back to the microwave only to see exactly what he had seen the first time he had faced it: Garth's reflection looking his way from the couch in the command center. Nothing more. Nothing less. No bloody-haired girls.

His shoulders gradually relaxed and he looked back to the Atlantean, blinking for a moment. Garth continued to eye him. "I really think you need to lay off the coffee and candy, Roy. …and the horror movies can't be helping your sugar-hyped nerves."

Roy scowled, whipping back around to rip the microwave door open and pull the popcorn bag out, tearing it open. "Shut the hell up, Garth. I'm not frickin five years old…or Wally."

Garth snorted. Roy grabbed a bowl from the cabinet and poured the popcorn into it, shoving it aside and grabbing his coffee mug again. He stormed to the sink, picking up the steaming pot and freezing half-way into pouring the liquid out. He stared at it. Scowled. And roughly shoved the mug and pot into the sink.

Whatever the hell Dinah had been getting at, she was right. Coffee on a candy-stuffed stomach probably wasn't a frickin good idea. And if Garth teased him about it again, he was definitely going to talk Kori into crawling down his stairwell, gurgling the whole damn way down.


End file.
